The Glass Ceiling: Shatterproof?

Trying to break the glass ceiling facing professional women in the Capital Region

By Laurie Lynn Fischer/Women@Work

Illustration by Emily Jahn and Tony Pallone/Women@Work

A local woman recently quit her job after 10 years of supervising 25 to 30 employees for a national corporation. Not a day went by, she says, when she did not experience some form of sexual harassment. “We had a sexual harassment policy — zero tolerance,” she says. “It’s not enforced. It’s not on the top of everybody’s priority list.”

Marcia Pappas hears many such complaints. She’s president of the Albany-based New York State chapter of the National Organization for Women. “Every woman works in a sexist workplace because we live in a sexist world,” she says. “When we look at who does the hiring, in any situation, women don’t have the same advantages as men have in terms of moving up the corporate ladder.”

Between 2005 and 2009, men in the Albany-Troy-Schenectady metropolitan area out-earned their female counterparts in every occupation, U.S. Census statistics show. The median discrepancy was $12,000. The disparity was greatest in law and medicine. (See chart for more examples.)

“There’s no doubt that progress has been made, but we aren’t there yet,” says Fatima Goss Graves, vice president for education and employment at the National Women’s Law Center. “If you look at the wage gap, it has been stagnant for the past few years. Since the recovery began two years ago, men are starting to gain back jobs. Women are still losing. Part of that is because of the devastating cuts in the public sector. Sectors that are hiring back are traditionally male sectors.”

But while sexism of all sorts may be the norm in many workplaces, it’s not easy in New York to prove you’ve been wrongfully terminated because of it, Pappas says, citing one case of an expectant mother who was fired. “We are an ‘at will’ state,” she says. “You can be fired for any reason. They don’t have to really give a reason.”

So what recourse do women have? “Sometimes, you need to talk to your colleagues and your human resources representative to try and get better information,” Goss Graves says. “Sometimes it’s about using an employer’s grievance process.”

Tell your supervisor about the conversation, she advises. If the trouble persists, write the supervisor a polite letter — use certified mail, return receipt requested. Send copies to any and all individuals who need to know. Other correspondence may follow.

Still no satisfaction? Consider changing jobs, advises Pappas. “Every person has their own line in the sand,” she says. “There are times when you say, ‘I need to leave this job.’ Another woman may have to stay because she has to feed her children.”

A Hilltowns woman who works in a predominantly male field says she has left two jobs because of differential treatment. “There’s always a double standard,” she says. In one case, her male colleague was allowed to work from home, but she wasn’t.

“We were in identical situations,” she says. “We both had small children. We both could do high-quality work. They had no trouble with letting him work at home. He was such a saint for helping his wife take care of the kids.”

In the other instance, a client said he didn’t want to do business with “a girl.” “He wanted to deal with a real technical person,” she says. “I went to my supervisor. The company said it was OK for him to call me a bitch or girlie. I was in my 30s. If I were a male, the company wouldn’t have tolerated it.”

Taking a legal stand against such treatment can be successful. It can also be costly. Pappas gives the example of an Albany-area drug rep who was fired after 15 years.

“The pharmaceutical industry is notorious for only wanting young, pretty women (in sales),” Pappas says. “She was one of their top earners. She tried to argue her own case in court. It bankrupted her.”

Women are less vulnerable when they unite through a class action suit, Goss Graves says. “Oftentimes, they’re not just doing it for themselves,” she says. “They’re doing it so that no one else has to endure what they have had to endure. I hear that story time and again.”

What action should you take before accusing someone of sexism?

Here are some do’s and don’ts:

DO:

Follow protocol if your company has a complaint or sexual harassment policy.